The question behind the question is usually: am I about to lose control of my own name? With the right buyer, the answer is no. Here is how it actually works.
You do. That is the short answer, and with the right buyer it is the honest one. The person who knows the customers, the engineers and the market is the person most likely to grow the business, and a sensible buyer has no interest in replacing them.
The way we describe it at Tatu: the owner hits the shots; our job is to carry the bag. A great caddy walks the course beforehand, reads the greens, hands over the right club and brings in the best coach when the swing needs work, but never once tries to take the shot. A good investor behaves the same way: everything possible to make the right shot easy, then out of the way while you hit it.
Behind you, not in front of you, on specific agreed missions rather than general interference. In our deals that means operating partners on go-to-market and pricing, on AI and data, and a dedicated finance operator on the numbers. You get resources you could never justify hiring full-time, deployed where diligence showed they were needed, and the day-to-day decisions stay yours.
Three things, honestly stated. First, reporting: monthly numbers, properly produced, because everyone steers better with good data. Second, a board rhythm: a regular, structured conversation about the big decisions, which most owners come to value more than anything else in the deal. Third, accountability: the growth plan you agreed before completion is now a shared commitment, and you will be held to it in the same way you can hold your investor to their side.
The name over the door. The team, who in a good deal do better than before: we look to move employees towards ownership through equity or profit sharing in every deal we back. And the standard you built the business on. The test we hold ourselves to is simple: five years on, the seller is still at the Christmas party, and nobody in the room thinks they sold to the wrong people.
Tatu partners with the owners of UK service businesses making £500k to £3m a year in profit: money out today, a meaningful stake kept, and a bigger sale built together. See how it works, try the free valuation estimate, or write to nico@tatu-capital.com.